Five Travel Trends Over the Last Five Years and Three Travel Trends Over the Next Five Years

The travel industry is constantly evolving as travel trends are changing quickly with the advent of technology, and travelers want to try out things that are different than what they experienced before. As the travel industry needs to adopt and know the travel trends in their industry, it is important to always keep up with the latest travel trends in the travel industry because competition in the industry is high and customers' or consumers' travel expectations are completely different than before. Travelers expect businesses to offer them the latest innovations in the industry. Therefore, it is important to keep track of current trends for a business or enterprise to know whether they need to alter their plans accordingly. For the last five years, travel experts have seen how travel trends have differed from those projected for the next five years because of the challenges and crises that affect the tourism and hospitality industry.

5 Travel Trends Over the Last 5 Years

Here are the five travel trends from the year 2018 to the year 2022 for a business, industry, or sector to be guided and predict what will be the future travel trends over the next five years for the tourism and hospitality industry.

2017 Travel Trend: Multi-Generational Travel

Multi-generational travel is a travel trend in 2017, as people want to deepen their bonds with their families by traveling with them. Families are taking multi-generational trips to celebrate special occasions, explore new destinations, or simply get away from the stresses of everyday life. People are seeking extended vacations, excursions, or short-or long-weekend getaways with their loved ones. In line with this, multigenerational travel has been rapidly and continually developing.

2018 Travel Trend: Travel for Business, Travel for Leisure or Bleisure Travel

Business and leisure travel were prominent travel trends in 2018 because employers saw this as an opportunity to get their employees to feel motivated, be productive, and remain longer at work. Many employers prefer business travel because it keeps their employees focused on work and makes business planning less burdensome. Because of this idea, business travel has been a travel trend in 2018 as many business travelers are seeing business travel as an opportunity to work while having fun.

2019 Travel Trend: Experiential Tourism

Experiential tourism is growing in popularity as a travel trend in 2019. Travelers are more engaged in experiential travel as they want to experience a country or a particular place by engaging with its culture, food, people, history, and environment. According to TripAdvisor’s 2019 Experiences Trends Report, classes and workshops, family-friendly activities, and wellness experiences are the fastest-growing experience categories for U.S. travelers. Even while experiential travel is not a new concept, its popularity is growing in 2019 and it has become a travel trend.

2020 Travel Trend: Travel Domestic Destinations

The case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported on December 31, 2019, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a worldwide health emergency on March 11, 2020. COVID-19's rapid global spread has had an impact on people's ability to move from one place to another, as well as their motivation to travel. As a result, travelers are hesitant to travel internationally. Therefore, traveling to domestic places has been shown to be a great way for travelers to avoid being exposed to or affected by the virus. And because of travel restrictions, most travelers prefer to travel domestically. There are some countries where foreigners are not permitted to travel.

2021 Travel Trend: Business and MICE Tourism

The need for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions is increasing as COVID-19 continues to spread and the world slowly recovers. MICE has been viewed by business travelers and employers as an opportunity to travel and hold meetings, seminars, and events for planning purposes. Despite the pandemic, MICE is the most profitable segment of the tourism industry, and businesses are continuing to grow. Due to the pandemic's impact on enterprises, industries, and other sectors around the world, business and MICE tourism were the top travel trends in 2021.

3 Travel Trends Over the Next 5 Years

As no one knows when the pandemic will end, here are three travel trends for the next five years that a business, industry, or sector can use to determine what travel trends they will apply in the tourism and hospitality industry, whether or not the pandemic occurs.

Electric Air Travel

Travelers are becoming increasingly environmentally aware and concerned. They desired to go without causing harm to the environment. The potential influence of flying teslas on the aircraft manufacturing business, commercial airlines, ride-hailing, and taxis has made them a hot topic in the travel industry. Electric vehicles, according to experts, are less expensive to operate and repair and are better for the environment than vehicles powered by conventional fossil fuels. Electric air travel will undoubtedly have a significant influence and demand in the next five years, with travelers preferring it to fuel-powered vehicles because it is less expensive and environmentally benign. And for sure, not only air travel will be invented, but also land vehicles will be accelerated and used for tourism and hospitality industries.

Travel Tech

Regardless of the fact that the tourism and hospitality sector continues to expand and thrive despite challenges and crises, business owners are using technology to innovate their tourism products and services. For the next five years, travel technology, or traveling with the aid of technology, may be a trend. Some tourists wish to travel to see how technology is used in the tourism and hospitality industries. As consumers changed their travel experiences to improve their pleasure, these businesses adopted and accelerated the use of technology.

International Travel

With the acceleration and adaptation of technology by other tourist destinations all over the world, the demand for international travel will increase. Because of innovations in terms of tourism activities, transportation, amenities, accommodations, and attractions, it is possible that international travel will become a travel trend because tourists want to experience the technology applied in the tourism and hospitality industries while maintaining sustainability.